The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea, botanically known as Hydrangea arborescens and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Abetwo’.
The new Hydrangea is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Grand Haven, Mich. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new Hydrangeas with strong stems and attractive foliage and flower coloration.
The new Hydrangea originated from an open-pollination in 2002 of the Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, not patented, as the female, or seed parent and an unknown selection of Hydrangea arborescens. The new Hydrangea was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 2004 as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled outdoor nursery environment in Grand Haven, Mich.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by softwood cuttings in a controlled environment in Grand Haven, Mich. since 2004 has shown that the unique features of this new Hydrangea plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.